Just a quick mtn bike ride for me today, 4 miles in 20:13. I got on the scale today and have picked up another pound from somewhere. I've made a conscious effort to watch what I'm eating, but maybe I need to cut back instead.

D.H., I meant to wish you luck with your new training plan, so good luck. And getting back to fighting injuries since high school, it makes me wonder what kind of runner you could have been had you been able to train consistently. My hat's off to you for hanging tough for as long as you have.

And Ray, if you're ever in need of a few extra pounds, I've got some I'll gladly send you. This is getting ugly...

Edited to add: Dark Horse, how's this for memory? I found this... http://runningblog.dallasnews.com/author/glamothe/ and remember you two used to play chess on-line on this forum. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing it, he's still writing for the paper in Dallas.

Rich, I've picked up a few pounds too. When I get out of my routine, I tend to overeat. Recently with the job transition etc., I've been out of my routine. So I skipped supper tonight.

Speaking of injuries and training regularly, I believe the key to success as a runner is simply avoiding injuries. If you can avoid injuries, the sky's the limit. If you can't avoid injuries, you won't amount to much. As a kid, I always knew I could outrun anybody. Sometimes I would tease the big mean kids, because I knew they couldn't catch me. But when you get to high school and try out for the cross-country team, then you find out whose body can take the pounding.

Same deal with Dark Colt. He wasn't as fast as I was, but he's a tough kid and still managed to make the varsity as a high school freshman, on his school's state champion indoor track team. He even won an indoor track varsity mile race as a freshman. But even then his knees were hurting, and he couldn't train as much as the other kids. He hasn't run a single race since. Now he's a junior. He still has dreams of running again with his friends. He had so much fun that freshman year. I was so happy for him: the boys and girls cross-country teams used to train together, and they had weekly spaghetti dinners together, and I've never been happier than when I saw him running through the fields with all his friends in the golden light of that fall season. I saw him doing the things I wished I could have done, belonging to the group and being successful, and having the fun I missed. But that was the only year he ran, and then it all went away. He couldn't run at all in the spring of his freshman year. Just to hang around his friends, he threw the javelin on the track team that spring, but he had absolutely no talent for that, and he hasn't gone out for any teams since.

D.H., what a shame for Dark Colt, to have the talent to compete, but the injuries that prevent it from ever happening. I can only imagine how frustrating that must be for both of you.

And I agree, avoiding injuries is the key to successful running. My latest injury could have been avoided if I hadn't set a goal to run 70 mile weeks leading up to my last marathon. I'd read that 70 gets you to a new fitness level and I wanted to see if I could do it.

I'd never run close to that kind of mileage and the amazing thing is, I actually pulled it off, running 1/2 mile interval sessions and tempo runs as part of each week's mileage, as well as 20 mile long runs.

Actually running the marathon I'd trained for is what set me up to get hurt, then running a 5K shortly after finished me off. And as with most inuries, I didn't see it coming until it was too late.

And now, to top it off, I'm losing muscle mass and fitness every day that I'm away from running. I'd hoped to go into next spring with the fitness I'd gained through all the hard miles I'd run this year, instead, I'll be starting all over again.